Mad World
by Truly Hopeless
Summary: Sequel to Lithium. Song fic. One-shot. S.Q. relives some of his memories. WARNING: Contains slight spoilers for "We Found Ourselves In Wonderland."


Author's Note: Hey, as you can see, my FUN parody is dead. Apparently, some people hated it, (OUCH!) so I thought I might as well delete it and write a sequel to Lithium. (If you haven't read that, you should so you'll understand.) I figured that after a couple of weeks after Kate rescued S.Q., Mr. Benedict would try to help him remember something from his past. S.Q. isn't going to try to strangle Kate in this story, so this is gonna be K+ this time. Once again, this is a song-fic, this time set to the song Mad World by Gary Jules and it's going to be seen from S.Q.'s POV again. I don't own S.Q. or Kate, they belong to Trenton Lee Stewart. This isn't a Kate/S.Q. pairing, but Kahlan thinks otherwise. Warning: slight spoiler for what's gonna happen in my crossover story, if you don't like spoilers, don't read this until that story has gotten that far. ENJOY!

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"Alright, S.Q.," said Mr. Benedict kindly, leading me and Kate down a hallway, "today, we're going to try to recover some of your memories using the Whisperer. I have reversed what my brother originally programed it to do, so instead of hiding peoples' memories, it retrieves them."

"Will I have to sit in the chair?" I asked nervously.

"Oh no, I wouldn't want you to feel uncomfortable, or at least any more uncomfortable than these memories might make you."

All around me are familiar faces  
Worn out places, worn out faces  
Bright and early for their daily races  
Going nowhere, going nowhere

I shuddered at the thought. As you might have guessed, I didn't remember anything from my past, so I didn't know how my life was before I went to the Institute. For all I knew, I could have lived with a mean aunt, just like Harry Potter. Kate saw my discomfort and she squeezed my hand. That cheered me up a bit. Kate was one of my dearest friends, probably the first one I ever actually had, especially since she was the one who released me back at the cave, even though I had just tried to kill her. I certainly hoped that wouldn't show up today, that was one memory I wouldn't mind forgetting.

Their tears are filling up their glasses  
No expression, no expression  
Hide my head I want to drown my sorrow  
No tomorrow, no tomorrow

"Here we are," said Mr. Benedict opening a door and pointing to a sofa at the back of the room, clearly meaning that I should sit there. "Kate, would you please sit with S.Q. while I start the Whisperer?"

"Of course, Mr. Benedict," said Kate, putting her bucket by the door. She sat down next to me and held my hand.

"Now, S.Q., just relax." I closed my eyes and leaned back. "The memories won't necessarily be in order, but memories will appear.

And I find it kinda funny  
I find it kinda sad  
The dreams in which I'm dying  
Are the best I've ever had  
I find it hard to tell you  
I find it hard to take  
When people run in circles  
It's a very, very mad world mad world

_What is your name? _The Whisperer asked me. S.Q. Pedalian, I thought. After the Whisperer finished asking questions, a scene suddenly appeared before my closed eyes.

I was looking up at a kind looking woman with blonde hair and brown eyes, and I had my hand on her belly. I suddenly took my hand off her belly and shouted excitedly, "She kicked me! My sister kicked me!"

"Yes, and she can't wait to meet you," said the woman, who must have been my mother, ruffling my hair.

The next memory showed me and a man with frizzy red hair that had to be my father queitly entering a room in a hospital where my mother lay in bed, holding a tiny baby girl in her arms. She smiled at us and my father bent down to kiss her on the forehead.

"Do you want to hold her?" my mother asked me. I nodded and, treating her as though she was made of delicate glass, I held her. She was so cute, with her short curly red hair and then she opened her eyes and I saw that they were bright green.

"What are we going to name her, Alice?" my father asked.

"I think Sam should come up with the name," said my mother.

"I think Melody is a pretty name," I said. Melody smiled at me, it seemed she liked the name.

"Melody it is," my father said, and he did a little dance.

Children waiting for the day they feel good  
Happy Birthday, Happy Birthday  
And I feel the way that every child should  
Sit and listen, sit and listen

Another memory showed a bunch of people at a long table outside that had alot of sweets and cakes. The people included my mother, my father and my sister Melody, who had grown up a bit, and when they started singing, "Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday, dear Samuel, happy birthday to you!" I realized that it was my birthday.

"Make a wish, Sam," said Melody.

And somehow I remembered what I had wished for: I wished to stay with my family forever and ever. Too bad that wish didn't come true.

Somewhere in the present, I felt a tear roll down my face and Kate squeezed my hand again.

Went to school and I was very nervous  
No one knew me, no one knew me  
Hello teacher tell me what's my lesson  
Look right through me, look right through me

Then I was at the Institute,I kept tripping and stuttering and people made fun of me, I distinctly heard someone say that "S.Q." had to be short for "Sasquatch." Why were they so mean to me? They didn't even know me!

"I'm sorry I'm late, Jackson," I said as I went through a door. (AN: Sorry, couldn't think of a name.) Jackson glared at me.

"That's no excuse. Unless you want to go to the waiting room, you better show up on time."

"Yes, sir," I muttered, feeling a blush come up my cheeks.

Another memory at the Institute showed me going to the library, there, to my slight surprise, was Kate, doing a hand stand, meaning to say my past self was confused, I remembered this day the moment it appeared: It was the day I met Kate for the first time.

"Excuse me," I called, "but I don't think this is a good place to practise that sort of thing." Kate carefully lowered herself and picked up her bucket. "You're the new girl, right?" I asked her, looking down into her blue eyes.

"Yes, I'm Kate."

"Well, it's nice to meet you," I said. "I'm S.Q."

"Is that short for anything?" she asked.

"Well, I don't know, some people make fun of me and say it's short for 'Sasquatch.'" She turned pink, which made me think that she must have thought that too. "I'm not offended by that anymore though, I know I have big feet so I don't mind if you call me that, not that I would like you to call me that, but-Ahh!" I had tripped.

Kate giggled. "You're clumsy, but I think we might get along. At least you have nickname, I've been trying to get people to call me 'The Great Kate Weather Machine,' but they won't call me that."

"I think that's an interesting nickname," I said getting up again. "Oh, shoot, I have to go. I hope to see you around." She was a nice girl, I certainly looked forward to seeing her again.

And I find it kinda funny  
I find it kinda sad  
The dreams in which I'm dying  
Are the best I've ever had  
I find it hard to tell you  
I find it hard to take  
When people run in circles  
It's a very, very mad world ... mad world

Then I was on a dark allyway and there was someone screaming. I ran to the source. There was Melody, struggling to get away from a man in a black suit that I recognised, to my horror as McCracken.

"Let her go!" I yelled, running toward McCracken and knocking him over. He let go of Melody. "Get out of here, I'll hold him off! Get Mom and Dad if you must but get yourself out of here!" I shouted to Melody. She took off and I grabbed the nearest object beside me, which happened to be a baseball bat, and backed up as far away from where Melody was running as I could. I fought with McCracken for about fifteen minutes but then he used his shock-watches on me and I fell to the ground, the last thing I heard before I blacked out was my sister screaming "S.Q.!"

Then, to my absolute horror, I found myself back at the cave, sobbing hysterically at Mr. Benedict's betrayal. Then Kate entered the cave and went toward the desk, about to remove the legs from the table. Then I inched slowly toward her and-

"NO!" I shouted, opening my eyes. I was back in the room with the Whisperer, and Kate was right beside me. I started to cry. I had tried to kill Kate, I hurt her, I had taken my anger out on one of my only friends.

"S.Q.? Are you okay?" It was Kate speaking. She didn't even wait for an answer, she just put her arms around me and let me cry into her shoulder.

Enlarging your world

"I'm sorry, Kate," I choked out. "I'm sorry about what I did to you in the cave."

"I forgive you for that, S.Q., I already forgave you for that," said Kate, moving a bit of hair out of my face. "Please, just let that go and forgive yourself." And I did let go. I knew everything would be just fine as long as I had my friend with me. About ten feet away from us, Mr. Benedict had fallen asleep.

Mad world

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Author's Note: *sniffs* Am I the only one crying here? I hope you enjoyed this sequel, and if you read this story anyway despite the spoiler warning, don't say I didn't warn you. Now you know who Samuel is. I have an idea for an S.Q./OC (Literally OC!) pairing that's still in my story journal and feel free to request Kate/S.Q. stories if you want. And now How to Save a Life is playing. You gotta love the Fray! BYE!


End file.
